Root Financial Partners LLC Grows Holdings in Microsoft Corporation $MSFT

Key Points

• Root Financial Partners LLC increased its Microsoft stake by 13.7% in the first quarter, buying 4,215 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 35,006 shares valued at about $12.96 million.
• Microsoft remains heavily held by institutions, with 71.13% of shares owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors, while some insiders have recently sold stock.
• The company continues to show strong operating and analyst support: it beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, raised its dividend, and currently carries a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with a target price of $559.84.

Root Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT - Free Report) by 13.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,006 shares of the software giant's stock after purchasing an additional 4,215 shares during the period. Microsoft accounts for about 0.6% of Root Financial Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Root Financial Partners LLC's holdings in Microsoft were worth $12,958,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Microsoft by 51.3% during the 2nd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 59 shares of the software giant's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC grew its position in shares of Microsoft by 4.9% in the third quarter. Shepherd Kaplan Krochuk LLC now owns 431 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Fischer Investment Strategies LLC now owns 697 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Microsoft by 0.8% in the third quarter. Pollock Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,805 shares of the software giant's stock valued at $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Better Money Decisions LLC lifted its position in Microsoft by 0.6% during the second quarter. Better Money Decisions LLC now owns 3,498 shares of the software giant's stock worth $1,740,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. 71.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Microsoft

In other news, EVP Takeshi Numoto sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $402.84, for a total value of $1,812,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 47,468 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,122,009.12. This represents a 8.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Amy Coleman sold 1,262 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $411.34, for a total transaction of $519,111.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,922,874.02. This represents a 2.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 23,762 shares of company stock valued at $10,508,361 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.03% of the company's stock.

Key Microsoft News

Here are the key news stories impacting Microsoft this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several recent articles highlighted Microsoft’s AI strategy as a growth driver, including comments from CEO Satya Nadella about “the next massive AI trade” and enterprise customers integrating more partner AI tools into Microsoft’s ecosystem. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remained constructive ahead of Microsoft’s late-July earnings report, with bullish notes pointing to strong Azure growth, large commercial backlog, and expectations that AI spending can support longer-term revenue growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple market write-ups argued Microsoft may be undervalued after this year’s pullback, with some firms seeing meaningful upside if the company converts AI and Azure demand into earnings growth. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft continues to draw long-term investor support from institutional buying, government contract wins, and favorable analyst ratings, which helps reinforce confidence but is not a fresh catalyst by itself. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Shares are also being weighed by class-action lawsuit headlines tied to alleged Copilot-related misrepresentations and securities fraud claims, which add legal overhang and headline risk for investors. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern also remains centered on Microsoft’s heavy AI capital spending and environmental impact, with some commentary questioning whether rising capex and emissions can eventually pressure margins or sentiment. Article Title

Microsoft Stock Performance

Microsoft stock opened at $390.99 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.13. Microsoft Corporation has a 12 month low of $349.20 and a 12 month high of $555.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock's 50-day moving average is $401.99 and its 200-day moving average is $413.41.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The software giant reported $4.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.06 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $82.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $81.44 billion. Microsoft had a return on equity of 31.94% and a net margin of 39.34%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.46 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Microsoft Corporation will post 16.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Microsoft Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Microsoft's payout ratio is currently 21.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MSFT. President Capital lifted their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. DZ Bank reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "buy" rating on shares of Microsoft in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $515.00 price target (down from $630.00) on shares of Microsoft in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Microsoft from $675.00 to $575.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Forty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Microsoft currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $559.84.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft develops, licenses and supports a broad range of software products, services and devices for consumers, enterprises and governments worldwide. Its operations span personal computing, productivity software, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications, developer tools and gaming.

Microsoft's product portfolio includes the Windows operating system and the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity and collaboration tools (Office apps, Outlook, Teams).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.